The Ramsey number $R(F,H)$ is the minimum number $N$ such that any $N$-vertex graph either contains a copy of $F$ or its complement contains $H$. Burr in 1981 proved a pleasingly general result that for any graph $H$, provided $n$ is sufficiently large, a natural lower bound construction gives the correct Ramsey number involving cycles: $R(C_n,H)=(n-1)(χ(H)-1)+σ(H)$, where $σ(H)$ is the minimum possible size of a colour class in a $χ(H)$-colouring of $H$. Allen, Brightwell and Skokan conjectured that the same should be true already when $n\geq |H|χ(H)$. We improve this 40-year-old result of Burr by giving quantitative bounds of the form $n\geq C|H|\log^4χ(H)$, which is optimal up to the logarithmic factor. In particular, this proves a strengthening of the Allen-Brightwell-Skokan conjecture for all graphs $H$ with large chromatic number.